


Not a monster

by mcdn11



Series: Azula's end [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Child Azula (Avatar), F/F, F/M, Happy Azula (Avatar), Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Lesbian Ty Lee (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, ursa is a neutral parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29053638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcdn11/pseuds/mcdn11
Summary: Ursa has given up her life at the palace to save Zuko. She enjoys her life at Hira'a with Noren. She was happy with her daughter Kiyi. She has yet to make amends with her eldest daughter.
Relationships: Azula & Ursa (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ozai (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Ikem/Ursa (Avatar), Kiyi & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai/Ursa (Avatar), Ursa & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Azula's end [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129310
Comments: 9
Kudos: 71





	Not a monster

**Author's Note:**

> So I started this one because of a comment, and it is officially the last one of the series. 
> 
> Somebody told me to do the Mai and the Gaang react to Tyzula, but honestly there wasn't too much to work with that one. It would've been "oh, I thought she was a psychopath unable to love. guess I was wrong." or "Ty Lee and Azula?!?!?!" so yeah. I felt like I could write a better story about Ursa, because I could kind of explain how she thought of her children. Plus the dynamic always intrigued me. 
> 
> The beginning is slow and somewhat boring. The good part is literally the end. I tried to make the beginning better, but I failed, so sorry about that. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this third and final part of the series. And if you like it, please check out my other stories!
> 
> Anyways, on we go...

The life of the Fire Lord for the life of her son. She was marked a traitor, she had to flee. She had to leave her children with that horrible man.

Zuko had always been kind. A little fragile for being brought up in the palace, but his heart was always in the right place. He spent most of his time with her, and he always seemed happy despite his father’s glare. It seemed impossible for Zuko to be Ozai’s son. The evil gleam in the eyes of Ozai were absent in those of Zuko.

Azula had not been a nice child. Since the moment the girl was born, the princess lived to torment her brother. Zuko always had nightmares of his sister burning his toys. Ursa tried to calm her son down, but deep down she didn’t doubt that Azula could do something like that in the near future.

Ozai loved the girls bending ability. Ursa knew that the prince did not love his children, but rather what they could do. Under his eyes, Zuko was a useless mistake. Under his eyes, Azula was a useful weapon. He kept his distance from the children, but they still wanted their father. Azula more than Zuko.

She began to show a sadistic attitude at around five years old. Ozai had yelled at Zuko for not performing a kata correctly, and the little boy began to cry. Azula just watched her brother and smiled. The little girl then ran towards her father and performed the kata correctly. Even at such a young age, the princess showed aptitude in firebending. When she finished the kata, Azula smirked at Zuko.

Ursa knew that Zuko needed her support. His father would never act as he should towards a child, so Ursa felt like it was her duty to take care of her oldest. She couldn’t let Zuko be corrupted by his monster of a father. No, Zuko was born with a good soul.

Azula had Ozai’s support, and even if it wasn’t love, he still protected the child. He would teach her firebending and how to act “as a royal should”. Ursa knew this was not the best behavior for a child to learn, but Azula would not learn about anything else. She rejected Ursa at every instance, and praised Ozai. Her soul had already been rotten from the start, and there was nothing Ursa could do about it.

But Ursa didn’t give up on her child. Not until a couple of years later, when she found the girl taunting Zuko in his room. Ursa pulled Azula out of her brother’s room by the arm and interrogated the princess.

Azula had always been a good liar. Not even Ozai could’ve taught her that ability. She was born cruel and unable to love most people. The girl only loved Ozai.

At that moment, Ursa knew that Azula was not lying about Ozai killing her son. The details aligned perfectly, and it made sense. Ozai had always wanted the throne and had always despised Zuko. There was no doubt in her mind that her husband would do this. It would kill two birds with one stone.

The way Azula told her mother about what was going to happen scared her. She sounded worried for Zuko, genuinely worried. Ursa knew it was an act; Azula never cared for her brother.

“Zuko is going to be safe, isn’t he mother? Dad wouldn’t do that to him.” Azula asked her.

“Go to your room Azula.” Ursa replied sternly

The princess glared at her mother. “You don’t believe me. I’m telling you something important and you think I’m lying. What else would I expect from a filthy peasant from a dirty village.”

It didn’t take a second before the princess had a red handprint mark on her cheek.

Azula’s eyes widened and she raised her hands up to the spot where her mother had just slapped her.

“You hit me…”

Ursa looked at her daughter in horror. The prodigy had a hurt look on her face, a look of complete and utter emotional pain.

“Azula, I-” the princess ran off to her room before Ursa could apologize.

She wanted to run after her daughter, to apologize for what she had done. Never in her life had she lifted a finger against her children, and never should she have. She wanted to tell Azula she was sorry for hitting her, that she would be a better mother.

But Zuko needed her immediate help. Ozai was going to kill him if she didn’t do anything.

They devised a plan in which Fire Lord Azulon would die and Zuko would have his life spared. It was not a perfect plan. She would have to leave her children to Ozai. There was no doubt that Azula would be happy with this exchange. She always wanted to be with her father, and with this plan, she would be happily with him. Ursa was worried for Zuko. How her fragile boy would cope without her she had no idea, but she hoped that whatever hell he would be put through would be better than having his life ended.

With only a duffel bag, Ursa returned to her hometown of Hira’a. While living in the palace, she was forbidden to have any contact with her family or anyone from her old life. So it was a shock to find out that both of her parents had died long ago. 

She visited the stage of her old acting troupe. She had been a big theatre fan when she was younger, and she loved to act in the troupe. Back when she lived with the Royal Family, she would make Ozai take her and the children to watch the Ember Island Players while on vacation. They were bad actors, and they butchered “Love Amongst the Dragons”, but it was still one of the few times their family could sit together in peace. No jealousy, no favoritism, no firebending involved.

Ursa remembered watching Zuko and Azula act scenes together. While they did that, Ursa could almost completely forget how sadistic and mean Azula was for a moment. When her children were enjoying themselves together, Ursa could see a good familiar relationship. Ursa could also see that Azula was much like her. She still teased Zuko, but Ursa could see that the nature behind these teasing was not sinister.

The young mother shed a tear as she remembered her children. It hurt her so much to abandon them, to leave them with that monster. She hoped it was all worth it. 

In the stage she met Noren. He greeted her and told her that he was in charge of the acting troupe after Grandma Guchi died. When she was about to leave, Noren stopped her and told her his true identity. Noren was Ikem, her old boyfriend. The man she had always loved. The man she had been forced to leave. The man who she wanted to be with.

He offered to take her to Forgetful Valley, where she would meet the Mother of Faces and she could get a new identity. A part of her wanted to do it. She could move on with her life as a new person, not having to fear about Ozai or any person of the government going after her.

She was held back by the thought of her children. She had left them alone to fend for themselves. What if one day they decided to look for her and she had another face? She had already hurt her children too much. She couldn’t bear to hurt them even more.

That was how she finally started her life with Ik-Noren. She moved in into his house. It was much smaller than the palace, but it felt like a home, something the Fire Nation palace lacked. They married soon after she made herself at home and a couple of years after had a child.

Kiyi was a sweet little girl. She reminded Ursa too much of Zuko. They both had kindness behind their eyes, and their smiles brightened up whichever room they entered. The child was headstrong, lovable, and happy. She was extremely similar to her son, which made Ursa love the little girl tremendously.

When Kiyi was two years old, the 100-year war came to an end. Ozai had been defeated by the Avatar, and Zuko had been crowned Fire Lord. Official news of the Fire Nation never arrived at the town of Hira’a, and so the official story of what happened to Ozai or Azula never reached Ursa’s ears. There were rumors going around that Ozai had been stripped from his bending, that he had been banished, that he had been stoned to death by Earth Kingdom savages, and many more stories. There were no rumors about Azula.

Ursa wanted to go to the capital and finally reunite with Zuko, but she didn’t know how her son had changed. She didn’t know if Zuko resented her, if once he saw her, he would punish her for betraying her country all those years ago. She couldn’t put Kiyi or Noren at risk just because she wanted to see her son, and so she didn’t. With great effort, she stayed put in her small town, trying to forget about the fact that she had abandoned her children a second time (even if they didn’t know it).

For two years she lamented her decision, but nonetheless stood by it. Every day she acted as a normal Fire Nation citizen, as a simple mother taking care of her child. Then one day Noren came home with visitors.

“Honey, we have some guests!” Noren yelled from the outside of the door.

Ursa wondered who could have been visiting them. It wasn’t as if they were expecting anybody, nor as if they were close to many people.

Before she could stop her, Kiyi ran out the door. “Daddy!” the little girl greeted her father with a hug.

“Hey there Kiyi. Let daddy go for a minute, he needs to talk to mommy.” Ursa heard Noren say.

Ursa was making her way to the door, but Noren entered before she could go outside.

“Noren, what’s going on?”

“He’s here.” Noren said

“Who’s here?”

“The Fire Lord.”

Ursa opened her mouth to reply but no words came out. Her mind was completely in shock. All this time she had avoided meeting him again in fear of his reaction, but now Zuko was here. He was here, just outside her home.

Her feet moved without her knowledge and she quickly found herself at the front door, looking at the visitors. There was a bald monk, two Water Tribe teens, one girl in pink ( _Ty Lee_ she remembered the girl was called. She was a childhood friend of Azula), and one teenager with a scar. She gasped when she saw it. It was no secret that the Fire Lord had a scar but seeing her son with such a mark really made it _real_.

He was talking to Kiyi. The little girl was happy to have new friends, and her son seemed happy to be around children.

“Zuko,” Ursa whispered loud enough for the visitors to see her. The three unknown teens shared a glance with each other.

The Fire Lord lifted his gaze and met Ursa’s eyes. Even his scarred eye began to water as the teenager looked flabbergasted.

“Mom…”

“Zuko!” Ursa yelled, running towards the boy and hugging him as hard as she could. He was here; he was mostly ok. Even after she abandoned him, after she left them with that monster, he was still her little boy.

The mother and son cried in each other’s arms. They held each other, reminding themselves that the reunion was real. After years of not seeing each other, her little turtleduck was back.

“You’re here.” Ursa cried, touching her son’s right cheek. “I missed you so much.”

Zuko smiled. “I missed you even more mom.”

“Mommy, who is he?” Kiyi asked her mother, tugging the simple skirt Ursa wore.

The mother smiled and lifted Kiyi so she could be at eye-level with Zuko. “This is Fire Lord Zuko, your brother. Zuko, this is your sister, Kiyi.”

“Did you always have that scar?” the little girl asked

Ursa gasped. “ _Kiyi!_ You can’t ask people about sensitive subjects.”

Zuko chuckled. “It’s alright mom. You see Kiyi, my father gave me this scar in an Agni Kai. He was not like your father. He was a bad man.”

“Oh,” the little girl looked sad. “Sorry for asking.”

“It’s quite alright. It’s good to be curious and ask questions.” Zuko ruffled his sister’s hair.

“Why don’t we all go inside and have tea? Is green still your favorite?” Ursa asked as she walked back to the house, the visitors on tow.

“Actually, my taste buds seemed to have matured. Jasmine is my favorite now.”

Ursa smiled. “Just like your uncle. Unfortunately, you caught us at a bad time in terms of tea blends. We only have green, black, and lychee.”

“I want lychee!” Kiyi yelled excitedly

“I’ll have the same as Kiyi.” Zuko smiled at his little sister

“May we have green tea?” the Water Tribe girl asked

“Of course! Be right back with your drinks. Please make yourselves at home.” Ursa smiled at the group before going to the kitchen.

She brewed the tea carefully, not putting too many leaves in them, but neither too little. She prided herself in her tea-making skills. She was not as good as Iroh, nobody was as good as him when it comes to tea, but she was still much better than other people.

After five minutes, the tea was ready, and she delivered the cups to the visitors in her living room. They all sat in a big circle, leaving a space for Ursa next to Noren. Kiyi was sitting in Zuko’s lap, and the Fire Lord seemed to be happy with the little girl.

“Here’s the tea. Two lychee and four green tea. I didn’t know which one you wanted Noren, so I made you black tea. I must warn you all, it’s not as good as Iroh’s. How is he doing by the way?” Ursa said, placing the tray on the table.

A chorus of ‘thank you’s’ followed, right as the guests took their cups.

“He’s doing well, thank you for asking mother.”

“Zuko, are you going to introduce me to your friends?” Ursa asked her son.

Zuko blushed and nodded his head. “Yeah, sorry. The one with the arrows is Aang, and he’s the Avatar. Next to him is Katara, and she’s a master waterbender. Then there’s Sokka, Katara’s brother. And finally it’s-”

“Ty Lee. I remember her. How are you dear?” Ursa asked with a kind smile.

Ty Lee didn’t return her smile. She just looked like an empty shell of the once happy girl.

“I’ve been better.” Ty Lee replied after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Ursa replied awkwardly. “Zuko, if you don’t mind me asking, where is Ozai?”

“Rotting in prison without his bending.” Zuko growled

“Without his bending?” Noren asked confused.

Aang smiled proudly. “Yes! Instead of, you know,” Aang looked at Kiyi and hoped her parents got what he wanted to say, “I found a way to use energy to take his bending away from him. It’s called energybending.”

“That sounds really interesting.” Noren replied.

“Zuko,” Ursa began to speak. “I want to apologize for not going home soon after the war ended. I was afraid that you resented me for leaving, and that you would harm my family if you ever found me. I know it was cowardly and selfish of me, but please forgive me.”

“Of course I forgive you mom. I understand why you did it.” Zuko smiled

Ursa returned the smile. “I’m so happy we can be a family again.”

Before anyone could say anything, Ty Lee put her cup loudly on the floor and glared at Ursa. Everyone turned to the acrobat, whose anger was radiating from her usual care-free body.

“Are you not going to ask about Azula?” Ty Lee asked glaring at Zuko’s mother. Ursa opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Ty Lee. “You abandon your children, leave them to the most awful man on the planet, marry another person, and then expect to have a perfect family? They both went through so much after you left, but you don’t seem to care. You asked about Iroh before you asked about your daughter!”

“Ty Lee…” Zuko tried to calm the acrobat down.

Ty Lee faced the Fire Lord. “No Zuko. You seem to forget what happened, but I don’t. We’re all to blame for what happened, but at least we acknowledge it! She doesn’t! She’s living happily with another daughter and doesn’t even seem to care about what happened to Azula! She left her with Ozai!”

“I thought Ozai wouldn’t do anything to Azula. She loved him.” Ursa asked slowly

The braided-haired girl turned to the mother of the Fire Lord and glared even harder. “Well you thought wrong. He thought of her as your replacement, and he abused her constantly. She always wanted to make him happy, even if it cost her greatly.”

Ursa couldn’t comprehend what the acrobat had just said. He thought of Azula as her…replacement? Did he…no. He was a monster, but he would never do that to Azula. She was a baby.

“Ty Lee that’s enough.” Zuko said

“No, she doesn’t know what happened yet. At age 11, Azula mastered firebending. She was also abandoned by most people at that age. Zuko was banished, Mai had to leave with her family, and I left for the circus. We left her alone in that monster den. Then, at age 14, she was sent to capture Zuko and Iroh after Ozai branded them as traitors. She was so proud that her father gave her that quest. She sought me and Mai out, and we journeyed the Earth Kingdom together, hunting for Zuko and the Avatar. That wasn’t all we did. We infiltrated Ba Sing Se, and Azula brought it down in a bloodless coup. Then she helped Zuko go back to the Fire Nation and regain his title as Crown Prince. After all she did, we all betrayed her. She was alone in the palace, only with Ozai.

“And she didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he did to her. What made her crack was when he burned her. You see the scar that Zuko has? Well he gave it to her and left her back in the Fire Nation while he went to conquer the Earth Kingdom. She lost her mind after that. She banished everyone that worked at the palace.

“But you know what’s funny? Even in her last moments, she unconsciously thought about you.”

“W-what do you mean?” Ursa asked, completely in shock with the story Ty Lee was telling her.

“She hallucinated with your image. She thought that she saw you telling her that you loved her. But she thought it was a lie because ‘ _nobody could love a monster_ ’. I thought that she was being too harsh on herself, that there was no way that you didn’t love her. But you didn’t ask about her. You completely forgot about your daughter, and actually seemed to have replaced her.”

“I haven’t replaced her…where’s Azula?”

“In the Garden of Tranquil Souls.” Ty Lee replied

Ursa gasped in shock at the mention of the cemetery’s name. “W-w-why is she there?”

“She killed herself. As part of the Royal Family, she had a reserved space in the cemetery.”

Ursa felt the world spinning around her. Azula had always been so strong, so independent, so fearless. Never in a million years would she had imagined that Azula, her little girl, would’ve killed herself. If she hadn’t left the palace, Azula wouldn’t have died. If she had been there for her daughter, if she had tried harder to make the girl understand true love, then Ozai wouldn’t have abused her for so long.

The last image Azula had of her was being slapped. The last thing Ursa did to the conscious Azula was hit her. Azula never woke up when she kissed her goodbye, she hadn’t told her to keep fighting, to never forget who she was. Ursa never treated Azula as good as Zuko, and now she would never have a chance to prove that she was a good mother.

She had always thought that Azula was evil, even at a young age. She hadn’t hesitated to label the kids. Zuko was the good one, Azula the evil one. Zuko had her, Azula had Ozai. Zuko needed support, Azula was independent.

Ursa had been part of the problem. She had neglected Azula, even if unconsciously. She had spent all her time with Zuko and ignored Azula. She had always chastised Azula, never giving her a reason for why she couldn’t do things a certain way. She only yelled, never explained. She had failed to keep her daughter safe from Ozai.

She had thought that Ozai had been grooming Azula to be the perfect warrior. Coldhearted, decisive, and cruel. But in reality, Ozai was grooming her to be something far worse. He had been grooming Azula to be his pet. Someone who would do anything for him without a second thought.

Her body seemed to have moved on its own, and before she knew it, Ursa was in the Forgetful Valley. She was lost, there were only trees around her. Trees, leaves, and a weird mystical feeling.

“Hello mother.” Ursa heard someone say from behind her.

She turned around and saw a young girl with a big burn on the right side of her face. She had the Royal Fire Nation attire, and she had the signature bangs in her face.

“Azula,” Ursa breathed out. Her daughter looked young, too young. She was still very short and while her face seemed to be mature, Ursa knew that there was much left for the girl to grow.

“I’m glad for you to have made your way here. This may be the only chance we have of speaking.”

“They told me you were gone…how are you here? How are you?”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Well, I am dead, that was true. It feels awfully cold. And I thought I would look good, not have a gigantic burn on my face. But I guess we can’t win everything. To answer your other question, being honest, I don’t know how I’m here. It’s likely that I’m here because of the strong spiritual pull this forest has, although I may be wrong.”

“Azula, I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry I left you with Ozai, I’m sorry that you didn’t notice me when I said goodbye, and I’m sorry for neglecting you when you were a child.” Ursa felt hot tears going down her cheeks.

The teen scoffed. “Don’t apologize for what you don’t mean. You don’t feel sorry you spent all of your time with Zuzu, and you’re not sorry you left me with father. You always thought I was a monster, so you left me with another monster.”

“That’s not true Azula. You are my baby girl, how could I think you were a monster? How can I not love you?”

“Easy, by me reminding you of everything that made you leave your old life. Zuko was always so nice and good, while I was a little devil. That’s how you would not love me.”

Ursa shook her head and stepped closer to the image of her daughter. “Azula, I admit that I was not the best mother. I was actually a very mad mother to you. But that never meant that I didn’t love you. I never thought you were a monster. You were just misunderstood. I didn’t understand you growing up, so in my own selfishness I went to Zuko to find stability. I could understand him, but not you. And it’s my fault for not trying harder, for leaving you at the hands of such a despicable man. I’m sorry Azula. I love you.”

Azula closed her eyes, trying but failing to stop the tears from falling out.

“I shouldn’t forgive you mother.” The princess shook her head. “You hurt me much more than you can imagine. Now I can see that I always wanted to feel loved, and as much as father doted my abilities, he never showed me true love. You always showered Zuzu with your affection, so I felt jealous. I felt weak, vulnerable. I tried to shun myself from showing any emotions, but that didn’t work. I was dishonest about my feelings towards the person I loved, and I hurt many people. I tried to prove to myself that I was the monster that you thought I was, because it would make it so much easier to accept the fact that you didn’t love me as much. Because if you were right about me being a monster, then that would have given you a good excuse for abandoning me.”

“You were never a monster. You were an abused child that had to grow up too quickly. All the other girls had their mothers to fall back to, and it was my fault you didn’t. I wasn’t there when you needed me, and if anyone is a monster, it’s me.”

Azula chuckled. “Don’t lie mother. You’re not a monster, Ozai is.”

“Yes, he sure is.” Ursa agreed.

Azula looked around the forest for a while before sighing and looking at her mother. “I don’t know how much time we have left, but I don’t suppose is much. I wish to be free mother. Even after two years of wandering around, I still feel brought down because I have not made amends with the important people of my life. I do not wish to talk to father, that would be a pathetic move of my part, but I do wish to make amends with you, Zuko, and Ty Lee.”

Ursa furrowed her brows. “I understand why you’d want to make amends with Zuko, but why Ty Lee?”

“Well, you see,” Azula looked away from her mother. “Ty Lee was very important in my life. We had _something_ going on, but she never got what she deserved. I wasn’t honest about my feelings because of my own cowardice. I also put her in prison, and treated her terribly before that, so I wish to apologize. Maybe I can finally rest in peace after that.”

“Did you love her?”

Azula sighed and looked at her mother. “Yes. I denied it when I was alive, but after two years of having nothing to do but think about my life, I can say that I love her. I wish we could’ve had more time together, because it wasn’t enough. I ended it too soon, I ended everything too soon. But, at the same time, I don’t think it was soon enough. I’m happier now than I have ever been, but I still feel like there’s unfinished business. Well, now there’s less unfinished business. I’m having a civil conversation with you.”

Ursa strolled towards her daughter. Azula looked at Ursa with confusion, but it soon became clear what her mother wanted to do. Ursa tried to hold Azula’s chin, but her hand passed right through.

“Mother…” Azula’s lips trembled as tears fell down her cheeks.

“I love you, and I’m so proud of everything you’ve done. I also wish we could’ve had more time together, but let’s remember this encounter as a happy one. Please, for the sake of both of us.” Ursa said, following her daughter’s example with the tears.

Azula nodded and smiled.

“I love you too mom” the princess said.

Ursa smiled back at her daughter. They both fell to a comfortable silence, staring at each other lovingly. Their moment was interrupted by the sounds of people coming towards them in the forest.

_“The trail leads this way!”_ they heard Zuko yell

“Well, it seems like Zuzu’s quest to find the Avatar helped with his tracking skills.” Azula joked

Ursa threw a stern glance at her daughter.

“What?” Azula asked. “It wasn’t insensitive.”

“ _Mom! Where are you?!_ ” Zuko yelled, this time much closer to the mother and daughter.

“ _I think she’s over here!_ ” they heard the familiar voice of Ty Lee yell.

Out of the bushes came a stumbling Ty Lee, followed by Zuko, which was then followed by the Avatar and the Water Tribe boy. Their faces were relieved when they saw Ursa, but they quickly turned into one of shock as they saw the young girl besides the woman.

“Azula?” Zuko asked, walking towards his sister.

The princess smirked. “Hello Fire Lord Zuzu, fancy meeting you here in the woods.”

“What-how?”

“Something spiritual, don’t ask me.” Azula cut her brother off. “What is important is that we make amends, because I do not want to spend eternity feeling bad for the awful state of our relationship. So, Zuko, I apologize for being a bad sister. I’m sorry for smirking when you got your scar, and I’m sorry for lying to you. I hope you have a happy life at being Fire Lord and that you don’t let the Earth Kingdom step all over you.”

“I miss you so much Azula. You don’t have to apologize for anything. _I’m_ the one that needs to apologize. I should’ve been a better brother, and I shouldn’t have abandoned you when you needed me most. I’m sorry for everything.”

Azula waved her hand. “Stop apologizing. It’s weird. Let’s say we’re on good terms now and leave it at that. You better take care of mother after I’m gone. Well, gone from this forest, I’m already gone.”

“I will.” Zuko promised

The princess smiled. Truly smiled. “Perfect. Well, two down, one to go.”

She turned to Ty Lee, who had literal waterfalls on her face.

“Ty Lee, I told you not to cry.”

“Azula,” the acrobat ran towards the princess and tried to give her a hug, only for her hands to pass through the princess. “what?”

“My physical body is ashes right now, so whatever you are seeing is not something you can touch.” The princess explained

Ty Lee cried. “I’m sorry Azula. I really am. I shouldn’t have betrayed you, I promised to stay by your side but then I stabbed you in the back.”

“No, you chi-blocked me.” Azula joked. She cleared her throat when she found that nobody reacted well to her joke. “Ty Lee don’t apologize, please. I should’ve treated you better, and you were right to do what you did. I’m not going to lie, it did hurt, but at least you did it to protect someone.”

“Azula…”

“Now for the apologies. Ty Lee, I’m sorry I didn’t treat you right. You deserved so much more, someone who was truly honest about everything. I was not honest to myself, and therefore I could not be honest with you. I love you Ty Lee, I loved you then and I love you now. But I didn’t know how to show that affection well, and so you suffered because of me. I ask you forgiveness for not being honest. And I also ask you to move on. Find someone who loves you for who you are and who treats you much better than I did. It’s the least you deserve.”

“No! I-I love you Azula. I can’t let you go.”

“Ty Lee, I’m already dead.” Azula sighed. “You have to move on with your life. You’ll keep aging, and I’ll stay like this forever. You still have your whole life ahead of you, and I cannot be an active part on it. I’ll always be with you in your heart, but you cannot solely live on a feeling. Please, find someone else and live happily.”

“But…I can’t be happy without you.” Ty Lee cried

Azula sighed. “You’re already without me. You have been for two years. Accept the fact that I’m gone and move on. I’ll love you forever, and I know you love me too, but maybe you could accept another person in your life. I’m not saying it has to be right this instance, but maybe later on in your life. That way you can be happy, the way you’re meant to be.”

“I-I’ll try ‘Zula.” Ty Lee whispered

Azula grimaced and turned to her mother, which had been looking at the exchange with a sad smile.

“I guess this is goodbye.” Azula said

“I love you Azula.” Ursa said, more calmly.

Azula smiled. “I have a final question for you, mother.”

“What do you wish to know?”

“D-do you like my hair?” Azula asked

Ursa smiled and nodded. “I always thought you had beautiful hair.”

“I guess my mind wasn’t lying to me then.” Azula smiled. “I love you mom, and I’ll be waiting for you, though don’t come too soon.”

The princess turned to the rest and smiled. Her body shined bright, so bright that they had to cover their eyes and turn away, but when the light died, there was no trace that Azula had ever been there. The princess of the Fire Nation was gone but not forgotten. She left her legacy in the heart of her loved ones, those who she felt had really deserved her love.


End file.
